All posts tagged how to write a proper email?

We’re all awash in email. And even if “inbox zero” remains a pipe dream, there are less-radical ways to cut down the time spent reading and responding to electronic communication.

Chris Anderson, curator of the TED conferences, has unveiled an Email Charter that makes a lot of sense. Some of the recommendations won’t be new to anyone who’s thought about the problem, but several were new to me (like “NNTR”). Also, if you haven’t thought about time wasted on email, you should read the charter if only so that you know that some of the people you’re corresponding with, and who don’t reply in the way you expect, aren’t being rude, just ruthlessly protective of their time.

(There have been other email manifestos, some more draconian than others: One decreed that no email should exceed three sentences.)

Biographies

Gary Rosen is the editor of Review and the former managing editor of Commentary magazine. His articles and reviews have appeared in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times. He is the author of "American Compact: James Madison and the Problem of Founding" and the editor of "The Right War? The Conservative Debate on Iraq."